Martha Skinner Thomas

Martha S. Thomas, 91, passed away unexpectedly but peacefully on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. Born near Morris, Alabama, she was a graduate of Mortimer Jordan High School in Warrior, AL, where she and her twin sister Sarah were Salutatorian and Valedictorian, respectively. She lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, the majority of her adult life, serving Mount Olive Elementary School as Librarian for many years and retiring from there in 1994. Martha began her working life as an operator for Bell Telephone in Birmingham, AL. She married Carl Owens Thomas in 1952, and went with him to Murray Hill, New Jersey, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude at Drew University. In 1963, she and Carl lived for a year in Copenhagen, Denmark, where Carl was a visiting faculty member at the Technical University of Denmark, and where Martha attended classes at the University of Copenhagen and also completed a course in culinary arts at the prestigious Oskar Davison restaurant. In June 1967, Martha completed a Master’s Degree in Library Science at the University of Tennessee. Her Master’s Thesis is entitled James Agee: A Bio-Bibliography. Over their 68 years together, Carl and Martha were able to travel the world, spending time in various locations throughout Europe and Scandinavia as well as North, South, and Central America.

An avid reader and lover of books and literature, she chose to read above any other leisure activity. Her interests spanned the spectrum of genres from British and American novels to Shakespeare and poetry, to the New York Times (which she read daily, cover to cover, until the day she died), Scientific American, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. Martha is remembered fondly by many of her former students for encouraging and instilling in them a love of reading that lasted long beyond elementary school. In appreciation of her years of service to the young people of south Knoxville, former students recall her encouraging them to follow their own preferences in search of books that ignited their curiosity: “I didn’t necessarily like the books that other girls my age were reading and my teachers and parents struggled to get me to read on my own. She spent time with me and introduced me to Beverly Cleary and Henry Huggins. It was the first time I enjoyed reading. She found the sweet spot that I needed to get started and it changed my life.” “[Ms Thomas] introduced me to Greek mythology in second grade and oncology in the third grade by helping me browse and select books that opened my little brain in that cramped, yet somehow rambling, library at Mt. Olive. She didn't help me find those books because she was an archivist, although I still remember her teaching me about the Dewey Decimal System. I think she did it because she was an instinctive teacher, an uplifter.” Like many teachers, Ms. Thomas was probably not fully aware of the vast and lasting legacy of her influence in her students’ lives, but it was certainly profound.

Martha is described by those who knew her as happy and vivacious, unfailingly kind and generous, a true beauty, and the best and most devoted mother. She was universally loved and admired for her genuine and caring soul.

“Marlo,” as Martha was known to those who loved her best, was the daughter of Bertha Reese and Philip Skinner. Preceded in death by her brother John Skinner and her twin Sister Sarah Miller and brother-in-law Joseph A. Miller Jr., Martha is survived by her devoted husband Carl, who describes her as “my sun, my moon, my stars and my treasure.” She is also survived by her loving daughters and sons-in-law Shannon Catron (Gib Catron) and Anne Thomas-Abbott (Glenn Abbott), of Knoxville; her doting grandchildren Reese Catron (Cincinnati, OH), Spencer Catron (Knoxville, TN), and Benjamin Abbott (Kingsport, TN); sisters Elizabeth Arnold (Birmingham, AL) and Carolyn Holland (Weatherford, TX); brother- and sister-in-law Lee and Oliver Thomas (Atlanta, GA); and precious nieces and nephews across the country: Jenny Thomas, Pam Farmer , Susan Tanis, David Arnold, Joseph A. Miller III, Catherine Benton, Howard Miller, Thomas Miller, James Miller, Jane Allison "Dolly" Stokes, MacArthur “Mac” Miller.

Martha will be interred in a private ceremony for immediate family on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 at Berry Highland Memorial in Knoxville. Friends who wish to leave a message of support or remembrance for the family may do so by visiting the Berry Highland Memorial website. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family requests donations be made in Martha’s memory to either the Knox County Public Library Foundation or the Friends of the Knox County Public Library, 500 W. Church Ave., Knoxville, TN 37902.